Like many OSNews readers, I use Ubuntu. I also use several less popular distros. What is it like to use these lesser-known distros compared to the dominant systems? How does running, say, VectorLinux or Puppy or PC-BSD, differ from using Ubuntu or Fedora? This article offers a few ideas. Obviously, it broadly generalizes about distros for the purpose of discussion.

Yes, but what does this have to do with big versus small distributions? Most of the big distributions stick to the standards. There will always be discussion on what the "way of the standards" is.

- Gentoo and Debian are true to things like the original init., the standard file hierarchy and so on.
- Fedora introduced SystemD. Arch adopted this soon. I lack the expertise to judge if this is a good step forward or a breakaway from the unix philosophy.

Like many of us I have used lots of distros. I agree with Howard that a small community small can be fine. On the other hand, in small communities (let's say Salix, Siduction or Funtoo) it can take quite long before your question gets answered.

Larger communities with knowledgable users (Gentoo, Arch) are fine with me. Large communities with mostly less experienced users (Mint, Ubuntu) are of less value to me.